Men killed in plane crash near Fresno, Calif. were father, son

A plane that crashed after taking off from Salinas Municipal Airport on Saturday was carrying a Midwestern physician and his father. Both perished in the wreckage.

Dr. Scott Clarke, the 41-year-old pilot, and his dad, Patrick Clarke, 67, died when the Cessna 421 slammed into a mountainous area near Fresno. Witnesses heard the crash about 7:30 p.m., according to the Monterey County Herald.

The plane was heading for Omaha, Neb., where the elder Clarke was a prominent businessman, according to the Lebanon Daily Record. His son was a pain-management doctor at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Mo., according to KY3.com.

"He was the best husband and father that you could ever hope for," Veronica Clarke, Scott Clarke’s widow, told KY3 in Springfield.